Working From Home

For over 15 years I have worked from home doing my own business in Public Relations and Marketing and I have never been happier. But there is another side to being at home all day. Most of my friends and colleagues feel that it would be fun to pretend to be working, watching movies, staying in their pajamas  and eating lots of junk food. Over the years we have had many conversations about working from home vs. working in an office each day. Let's face it, there are types that need to be in an office to feel productive, but for me it hampered my productivity.

Now with COVID-19 sweeping the land and making it mandatory for millions of people to stay in place and work from home, it has become quite a challenge. Many of my friends who are on the front lines working as nurses, doctors, hotel staff and those on the front lines tell me how happy they are to be able to leave home to go to work because their partners or spouses are driving them insane, not to mention if children are involved and stuck at home from school. Wouldn't it be great if everyone had that option available?

Since there is no choice at this time, I wanted to share a few helpful tips on preparing to work from home now and always. It you are single or with a partner, it can be less difficult to set up. Having children can force extra planning and organising activities for your children while you are working inside the house.

There are a few important tips to getting started with working from home:

• Setting up a work station in your home. The size of your living area does not matter. If you are sharing space, your work station could be in a corner of your bedroom with your computer and necessary supplies on a small table or desk.

• A computer is needed. It can be a lap top or a desktop computer that is up to date on the latest applications.

• When starting your day, think work. Do the normal things that you would do if you were preparing to go to work. Wake up early, take a shower, get dressed, and focus on the way you look. Chances are many of your meetings each day will be through video conferencing and you want to look as professional as possible.

• Prepare your breakfast as you normally prepare for the day. If you are a coffee or tea drinker, prepare your morning beverage to kick start your morning.

• Develop a work plan the night before so that you can hit the ground running with tasks that need to be done today, such as phone calls that need to be made, reports that need to be written or any other documents. It's also helpful to create a project plan to serve as a roadmap for all the things that you need to do. The plan will provide you with a clear vision of when things are due, what tasks are needed to accomplish them and if you are working with others on a particular project.

• There are a number of excellent free project management tools that can be used to help you organise your day, week or month. A few of the ones that I have utilised include: Trello, Asana, Monday and Teamwork, but there are many good ones available.

• Make sure you schedule work breaks and lunch breaks to so that you will have time to regroup or re-energize from your work day. Exercising or meditating is also a good way to take care of yourself. It's important that you have a nutritious lunch each day.

• Being organised is key. At the end of your day or before you start working is a good time to review your calendar and upcoming tasks, rating their importance on a scale of 1 to 5. Try to keep good notes of what things will need followup.

• And finally, try to have fun and laugh as much as possible.

You may want to avoid a few naughty habits such as:

• Staying in your pajamas all day and not taking a shower or brushing your teeth. Your online presence will be noticed by others.  
  

• Watching television instead of working.

• Waiting until the last minute to review documents that will be discussed online with your colleagues.